A Plea To Kill
by Borath
Summary: Spawning a creature of his enemy's design, Knuckles practically begs Sonic to help him kill it, but Sonic isn't so willing. Sort of mpreg
1. Chapter 1

Title: A Plea to Kill

Author: Borath

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: A few swear words may have slipped the net, and there's definite m-preg stuff, so if that squicks you, do click 'back' now.

Disclaimer: I own nothing in this piece except for the plot. All characters are property of the folk at Sega.  I merely toy with them for my own twisted amusement.

A/N: I watched the last few minutes of 'Sonic X' the other day, and I happened to witness a particular character drawling out 'this is so lame' at the other character's antics.  And I fell in love.  I was a fan of the original series years ago and have only just rediscovered it now, so I hunted around ff.net a bit and garnered a little knowledge from other authors.  

Basically, I'm very new to the fandom and I'm likely completely off in a lot of respects.  But I did my best and really enjoyed writing this, and that's all that really matters at the end of the day, isn't it?

A Plea to Kill

They'd been standing in the clearing an hour now and neither were anywhere near getting what they wanted.  Sonic was struggling to keep his temper in check against Knuckle's crude goading, and the echidna hadn't managed to incite the fight he so desperately wanted.  Needed.  He wouldn't win –his body's condition had degraded too much over the last four months- but he didn't want to win.  He wanted one good hard punch to the stomach so that he could get on with his life and be done with this whole messy and potentially dangerous situation.

That was perhaps what infuriated him the most; the rest of them were so bloody naïve.  Robotnick had, for lack of a better word, infected him with a new type of nanobot, nasty little critters that were tearing away parts of him from within and building a new biomechanical hybrid.  In his body.   Sonic and the others seemed quite happy to take this new condition of his as a pregnancy, but Knuckles saw it for what it really was: he'd turned into a walking bomb.  Who the hell knew what would happen when it was finished 'growing' and decided to explode out of his gut in a surround-sound, Technicolor, 'Alien' fashion?  Whenever that was due.  He was already too fat for his liking.

His body wasn't as scrawny as it used to be, not as lithe.  His strength remained but now there was extra girth to move as well as the fact that the little maggot was sucking up his energy and throwing off his balance.  Knuckles liked to think that that was the reason that Sonic didn't want to fight him now; it would be an easy victory, and that wasn't good enough for the often-cocky hedgehog.  He didn't want to consider Sonic's true reasons, which were frustrating and painful.

"Let's just get this over with," Knuckles bit out, lowering his head and raising up his sizable fists.  It was a traditional defensive stance but he wasn't planning on using it.

Sonic for his part radiated refusal, his own arms crossed with his legs a stride apart.  He didn't so much as flick a quill at Knuckle's move.  "You know I'm not going to do anything."

A growl, long and low, ending with him dropping his fists in frustration.  His right hand brushed his stomach as it dropped, reminding him needlessly and fuelling the fire.  "You have to!  I haven't killed it myself so you're going to have to help me."

He'd tried to do it himself, oh had he tried.  Valiantly and creatively too.  Any mission that would involve a lot of bots he snapped up instantly, disappearing for a few hours only to return with the necessary data or what-have-you relatively unscathed, bitching that the bots wouldn't hit him.  Pick him up, block his path and shove him away, yes, but they wouldn't hit him.  Apparently Robotnick didn't want his little toy accidentally damaged.  That had pushed a few buttons in Knuckle's head.  Trying to get in the way of the bots had resulted in nothing, and hitting himself was completely pointless.  Regardless of how badly he wanted to, he just couldn't put the force required into a punch aimed at himself.  Maybe it was just the angle…

Sonic tried approaching him again, as he would a wounded animal.  The last time he'd tried to get close to Knuckles he'd gotten a very neat black eye that had almost incited him enough to do something that he didn't want to.  No, he didn't want to hit Knuckles, or help him in the destructive way he wanted.  He wanted to reason with him, because there was something important that the echidna was completely missing in all of this.

"Knuckles, you've got to listen to me.  There's something you've gotta know and I'm not leaving until I get it through that thick skull of yours," he ventured, now only a few yards from the other and gathering confidence that the echidna wasn't going to do anything.

Rolling his eyes, Knuckles glanced up into the tree reaching out above him before springing into it, settling on one of the thick lower branches and glaring out through the leaves at the sky.  He wasn't getting anywhere and he knew it, but that didn't mean that he had to listen to Sonic.

Standing under the tree directly beneath Knuckles, the blue hedgehog narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists hard.  His teammate could be beyond difficult sometimes.  "Amy said that the last time she checked out the ba-"

"Don't call it that," Knuckles interrupted, his voice dangerously low.  "It's a thing."

Expression softening a little, Sonic sighed a little and scrubbed at the back of his head before looking back up into the tree again.  "Alright, the last time she checked 'it', she saw that there weren't any nanobots there.  There were plenty when she first checked you out but there's been less and less and now there's none."

Knuckles dropped from the tree with his back turned and began stalking away from him, heading into the woods and further away from the knothole.  He had not intention of listening to the shit currently being spouted by the blue hedgehog.

"Look, Robotnick failed in making this echidna-mechanic hybrid thing, but he started something that *you're* finishing.  It's yours now."  He was following Knuckles now, keeping a respectable distance away from the other.  Knuckle's spoke without looking back at him, but then again he had a habit of doing that, usually to help get his point across.

"I don't *want* it.  Why the hell can't any of you understand that?" he snarled, muscles tight as he continued walking.  Once he was in the trees he stood a fair chance of losing Sonic.  Even in this… state, he could still work up and through the trees far better than Sonic, who'd have no choice but to give up trying to find him and leave him in relative peace.  The smaller hero never did give up on anything easily though.  Just like now.

"Because we know that if you somehow do manage to kill it, you'll regret it for the rest of your life.  It didn't start out in the best way, fine, but it's an innocent and it's *your* baby."  

Knuckles stopped dead and whirled on the spot to face him in the same movement.  Stalking back towards Sonic who stood his ground unwaveringly, he got them almost toe-to-toe before shouting his response to that.  "I don't give a shit if it's innocent.  It's screwing with my body and my head and I don't even want it!  I'm the last of my kind, just me.  I guard that forsaken spit of an island with my life and help out you and your motley crew when I can and that's where it ends.  I don't do kids."

Sonic knew that the situation called for some sensitivity and compassion, but with Knuckles shouting and expletives were far better substitutes.  "Stop freaking out about all of this!  We're all more than willing to help you out if you'd let us, and as for it messing with your body, the hard part's over now."

Knuckles raised a corrective finger and looked at Sonic pointedly.  "No, the hard part's on its way."

Quirking a brow, the blue hero allowed the corner of his mouth to twitch up in a small smirk, crossing his arms again as a shield between himself and the other.  "I consider puking every meal and passing out twice a day to be trying, even if it only lasted a few weeks."

The echidna had no response to that and merely looked away, gaze twitching across between individual blades of grass as he considered.  Shouting at Sonic, demanding his help wasn't going to get him anywhere, and he was the only one who could sort out his little problem despite probably being the least willing.  Provoking him into a fight where he might 'accidentally' get certain parts of his body in the way of a kick or a punch wasn't working either.  It was then that Knuckles quietly realised that he hadn't actually *asked* for help.  

Tension visibly leaked out of his neck and shoulders, tendons flattening as his body took on the appearance of one defeated.  And perhaps he had been.  Exhaling slowly and resolving himself, Knuckles brought his gaze back to Sonic's own eyes, conveying his feelings through sight as well as his words.  Taken back by Knuckles' completely changed demeanour, Sonic felt his arms drop and mouth open slightly.

He was oddly fascinated by all of this, a cold feeling stemmed from suddenly realizing just how badly Knuckles wanted to kill the child settling in his gut.  This whole issue of abortion wasn't about pride if the echidna was so willing to push aside so much to carry it out.  And he certainly seemed willing to.

"Whatever it is, it's my choice whether or not to keep it," the echidna stated, gesturing vaguely in the air with one hand and watching for a reaction.  Sonic shifted, apparently uncomfortable, and nodded a little.  "And I don't want to, but I need your help to do that."

This is where it got hard.  Case and point conveyed, but now it was the crunch and Knuckles had to swallow a lot of pride to get the words out.  

"Please help me."

The shock factor in the simple plea may have played a significant part in Sonic's assent, and the expression that accompanied it certainly had a substantial role.   Nodding with his own sigh of defeat, the blue hedgehog's words were breathed rather than spoken, as if he'd rather not solidify what he had just agreed to.

"Yeah.  Yeah, I'll help you."

Knuckles nodded sharply and gave a grunt of approval, walking around Sonic and back into the clearing.  He glanced about himself as Sonic approached, thinking about how best to do this.  Away from the Knothole, certainly, but through the woods or towards the desert, where Sonic could really get his speed up…

"How'd you want to do this?" Sonic asked tiredly, following the other's gaze.

Shrugging, Knuckles placed his hands on his hips.  "I think that a sustained shock ought to do it; constant and rapid acceleration.   I can't run fast enough to do any damage, but you…"

Sonic nodded in understanding.  There were some things that he couldn't do, stuff that he was still getting the hang of, but he could run like no one else.  He knew the physics of it, or at least felt them despite not understanding how they worked.  He knew how powerful the forces exerted when breaking the sound barrier, for instance, were, and he knew the kind of damage anything faster than that could do.  

It was fine for him though; he was built for it, for the high speeds and the exhilaration that followed.  Knuckles struggled after passing the speed of sound though, and he didn't like to be pulled by Sonic much faster than that.  It would definitely do damage if he dragged him as fast as he could, no doubt enough to do what was bid of him.

And Knuckles knew that perfectly well.  Nodding in the direction that would eventually take them to the desert, the echidna extended a hand.  "Just go as fast as you can and don't think about it."

"Right."  He took the proffered hand at the wrist, noting the tense muscles through his glove.  "One question though, just 'cause I never asked before: what's it feel like?"

Knuckles glanced down at himself and shifted his weight from one foot to the other, a knock against his innards causing an eye to twitch.  "Heavy.  It's heavy."

Knowing that that was it, Sonic gave a warning tug on the arm he held before taking off, keeping to a speed that Knuckles could match as they weaved through the trees.  There was no pull as the echidna kept up easily, ducking thin whip-like branches that could leave nasty lashes at this speed.  Clearing the woods took barely a minute, and then everything was clear.  Flat ground and dust rising in long heated streaks behind them, Knuckles narrowed his eyes against the wind and waited, sneakers smashing into the ground over and over beside Sonic's.

The pull was gradual at first; the blue hedgehog gained a foot lead and then steadily pulled him with him.  He couldn't understand the consideration, but quickly understood that Sonic didn't want two to die on this little venture.  His body could only cope with so much.

Still, he lengthened his stride to keep up, being pulled when he was not touching the ground as Sonic took three steps between every one of his.  The mounting heat and push of the sound barrier built in pressure rapidly about them both, a loud noise resonating out across the area when nature finally yielded.

His fur was heating uncomfortably and the muscles in Knuckles's legs began to twinge and eventually burn.  He'd reached his limit now and was more or less gliding behind Sonic.  The blue hedgehog seemed to be barely tiring, his body full tilt and his legs a blur.  His narrowed eyes were honed on some point that Knuckle's couldn't see and he got the distinct impression that he was simply not looking at him.  

The world passed in a blur and it was completely silent now, which was something of a blessing when Knuckles started screaming.  The burning in his stomach and lower back had been present when the breached the speed of sound, but now it was becoming unbearable.  The child couldn't take the velocity and was being shaken horribly, and the echidna could only imagine feeling it steadily disconnecting from him.  The pain stole away every thought though, leaving sensation in a mute world of smeared colour.  He closed his eyes against it and felt Sonic reach what must surely have been his limit.  

His arms instinctively hugged in on himself when the pain retched a level where he felt he wanted to retch and Sonic felt the pull.  He slowed far more gradually than he could have done, a tingling running through his body and his breath coming fast and shallow as he recovered from the sprint.  They'd covered more than a few miles at breakneck speed.

When they had stopped completely Knuckles immediately dropped to his knees with a pained cough, freeing himself from the grip Sonic had about his wrist and hugging his midsection doubled over.  Unsure of what to do, Sonic knelt down himself and placed a firm hand on the other's back, grimacing at the heat radiating off of him.

After a few moments Knuckles suddenly reached out a hand and put it on Sonic's shoulder, clamping down firmly and then using the smaller hedgehog to ease himself to his feet.  The pain was almost blinding now and he could smell blood, his own and something else's, and he didn't want Sonic to be around him anymore.  Not for a little while at least while he disposed of it.  

Bleary eyed, he surveyed his surroundings for somewhere close that he could go and could have smiled when he saw that they were near another forest.  It wasn't far away, realistically, but to Knuckles it looked like a long and torturous trek into the trees.  Sonic was a step ahead of him though, realizing what the echidna wanted, and without hesitation collected him up and brought him briskly yet smoothly to the border of the trees.    Setting him down on his feet with a large trunk within arm's reach for support, Sonic backed a few respectable steps away.

"I'll wait here."

Knuckles, ashen faced and breathing hard, glanced into the inviting shadows behind him and grimaced.  His words came between gasps as he sought to keep his tone at least slightly level.  He still had his dignity.  "Don't know, how long it'll take."

Sonic nodded almost casually, his expression open.  "Doesn't matter.  I'm not going anywhere."

Nodding and flexing his fingers out at the hedgehog in what he hoped was an appreciative gesture, Knuckles used the tree to keep himself upright and then stalked as deep into the woods as he could manage.  He couldn't become too immersed, as the stench of blood would no doubt attract wildlife whose company he was not in the mood for.  But he wanted Sonic to keep away and if he couldn't hear him then chances were that that's what would happen.  One blood-curdling scream loud enough to reach his ears though and the hero would come running.

Dropping to his knees feeling distinctly faint, Knuckles thought desperately as to how exactly to do this.  However he positioned himself it hurt and it wasn't as if he had any experience in this, even with women.  Living alone for the vast majority of his life had meant one or two things like this being left out.  Rolling over and up from his back, he slammed both fists into the ground in an attempt to shock his mind into thinking coherently.  His pronounced knuckles sunk satisfyingly into the ground and a ripple ran through his stomach but nothing else happened.  This felt more comfortable though, more right.

Lowering his forehead to the ground as he sought to get in a decent breath, Knuckles caught sight of a steady stream of blood running down and dripping off the end off his lowered tail, the fluid collecting in neat puddles just past his knees.  Groaning, he clenched his jaw and eyelids shut and gently tested the muscles in his stomach.  Tensing them caused the pain to mount incredibly but instinct was yelling that that was what was required.  Damning Robotnick to hell for a final time, Knuckles made his first attempt at pushing.

****

Sonic had been listening intently since Knuckles had disappeared into the undergrowth, more than ready to help in any way that he could if he heard a sound that denoted the requirement of such an action.  The more logical part of his mind knew that the echidna had gone into the woods and away from him for a reason though, and that was what kept him in the same spot when he finally heard the pained sounds.

They were relatively quiet; suppressed, noises that were not meant to be heard, and they made Sonic's skin itch.  In traditional waiting-room style, he began to pace the border of the woods, hands wringing behind his back and his eyes focussed on the ground.  His agitation mounted over the next twenty minutes, his mind coming up with more reasons for why he should disregard Knuckles's wishes and search for him with every passing second.  When he got to 'he could die', not even single-minded pacing could keep him in the clearing.

He got only a few meters into the trees when he sense movement ahead of him.  Ducking back out of habit, Sonic watched through a thick bush as Knuckle's emerged from the scrub, pulling off soiled gloves as he walked.  Sonic had never seen his bare hands before and he couldn't help but stare for a few seconds now.

The protrusions of bone were exactly that; bone.  Uncovered and darkened in colour, they angled out of his hands ribbed and slightly blunt but none the less deadly.  His hands were shaking now, the quiver ceasing abruptly when Knuckle's fisted them when Sonic emerged.  Their gazes met silently for a moment before the echidna's hardened considerably.  That was it.  Shields up, walls fortified, no more emotion leakage for Knuckles.  Not for now at least.

Walking at a pace he could manage with the least discomfort past Sonic, he put a bare hand on the blue hedgehog's arm when it looked like the hero was going to venture into the bushes he had just emerged from.  "Just leave it."

Sonic didn't take his eyes off of the spot.  Knuckles sighed with a genuine weariness, his body throbbing angrily and shrieking white fire where his flesh was torn.  Exerting a little pressure on the arm, he motioned out of the woods and towards the Knothole.  

"Come one; they'll be wondering where we are."

They walked slowly, Sonic matching Knuckles's laboured pace without comment.  That wouldn't be fair.  He was feeling extremely tentative now and had decided that silence was perhaps the best course of action; he was less likely to put his sneaker in his mouth that way.

When the woods were behind them and it had become quite clear that Knuckles was going to have to begin resting at regular intervals, he ventured a thought quietly.  "I can get us back fast.  Then you can get some sleep, and maybe some colour."

Knuckles grunted his assent, more than a little distracted by the collection of black spots that were gathering and slowly condensing in his field of vision.    Everything was pain and tiredness, but the waves of sensation from his body were doing a good job of distracting his mind from other niggles along the lines of morality and lineage.  He didn't want to begin speculating on such things when the corpse was still warm, still where he'd left it.

Sonic caught him barely a microsecond into his fall, blacking out being a mercy to the echidna at this stage, and gathered him up in his arms.  He settled on a moderate speed, deciding that he'd risk too much now if he jostled Knuckles too much in this condition.  He still needed to be fast though, to get him to Amy and make sure that he was okay before he woke up.

And that thought made him want to slow down a little.  He didn't think that he wanted to be there when Knuckles woke up; he doubted that anyone would.  But they would be.  They'd be there for him, even if he did decide to vanish for a few days and sleep in a tree.

They'd be there.

*** End ***

Wow.  That was quite fun actually.  Corny ending, yeah, but I figured that it matched the tone.  My first Sonic fic so please be gentle, and I'd appreciate any and all feedback on this one.  Thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

A Plea To Kill: Chapter 2

A/N: I have no real idea of where this second chapter came from, but it's here and I hope you like it.  Thanks to Dark Riven, YumeTakato and ShadowSpirits for the feedback last time; good for my ego.

As it turned out when Knuckles finally awoke, offering comfort and emotional support wasn't very high on anyone's list of priorities.  Indeed, it had been three days since Sonic had returned carrying the unconscious Echidna and they had yet to get the bleeding to stop.

It wasn't a torrent of blood, barely a trickle, but it was continuous and didn't look to be stopping anytime soon.  That itself wasn't too much of a problem as the Echidna's body could keep up with that with only some faintness for its trouble.  The fact that Knuckles was acutely aware of the fact that his body was wringing itself out like a sponge, though, did not play well in his mind.  Sonic dragging him along on that little sprint had apparently done a lot more damage that he'd previously thought.  He would recover though, physically at least.  It wasn't going to kill him.

However the infection that had developed was less than pleasing.

That was why he now found himself in the bath in a more secluded part of the woods surrounding the Knothole.  It was close to a stream, which was where he'd filled it from, boiling the water with a heater he'd put beneath the bath under the metal base.  The water was a cloudy white from the copious amount of salt he'd dumped into it; being a Freedom Fighter had the downside of having to make do with what was available, and antibiotics were not something readily available.  The salt would do fine though.  Being in the water was calming his mind as an added bonus, so he had no qualms.

He'd built this bath several months ago out of necessity.  He would have built it on the Island but when word got that he was going to make a luxury item he suddenly found himself with a lot of offers to help on the condition that it would be in or near the Knothole. In the end he only accepted the help to get the wood needed; he built the thing himself.

It was practical.  Knuckles had come back from more than one mission covered in oil or Lord knows what else that needed far more than a quick hose-down with cold water to remove.  A bath was good for soaking out grime and for working out knots and aches that came with running like hell at the risk of losing your life.

It was a big bath, hexagon shape and tall.  He hadn't bothered to put in a shelf to sit on or anything; he preferred drifting his body in the water and just keeping his head above with his arms on the side.  He would have sunken it into the ground to step into it but he preferred being able to move it easily if required.  Sonic had had a lot to do with that idea.

Sonic.  He hadn't seen the hedgehog since the evening he'd finally returned to the world of the waking.  The other hadn't been able to look at him straight, obviously feeling a great deal of guilt and confusion over what had transpired only hours earlier.  He'd disappeared at his usual speed when Amy had begun twittering about internal bleeding, and Knuckles had caught a snippet of a conversation about a rescue operation to retrieve someone's kid from Robotnick's clutches. Suffice to say, Knuckles didn't expect to see Sonic again for a good few days.

Sighing despite himself and lowering a bare hand into the cloudy water, he swung his arm absently through the liquid and frowned at the hue of pink that appeared and spread to darken the entire vat's content.  He wasn't perturbed by the idea of bathing in his own blood.  On the contrary, he knew that he'd had to soak in worse.  He just wished for it to stop so that he could start forgetting about the whole damn thing and move on.

He couldn't though, not yet. Not when stitches needed checking and dressings changed and he had to escape from concerned faces and hollow comforts in the middle of the night just for the sake of his sanity.  At least his fur was starting to grow back where it had had to be shaved.  That had played merry hell with his dignity for a while, so much to the extent that he'd taken to wearing trousers for the last two days.  They helped to keep the dressings clean even if they were strange and uncomfortable to wear.  Right now they were in a pile next to the bath with a towel for when he decided to get out.  He was still stinging though, meaning that the salt still had some more work to do, so that wasn't likely to be anytime soon.

There was a progressively loud series of rustles in the undergrowth he had travelled through to get here, the sounds of someone approaching without making any attempt to hide their presence.  It was common knowledge that this was his space, and whoever was approaching was giving him a long time to shout them away if that was what he wanted.  Instead, Knuckles straightened and put his feet flat on the floor of the bath, interested to see who had come out at this time to seek him.  He doubted it was Sonic, and Amy had already seen enough of him for one day; far too much for his liking in some respects. 

He wasn't overly surprised when Tails appeared through the bushes, a grease-paper bag held almost protectively to his chest.  He hadn't seen the elusive fox for a good week with one of them being out and the other in the guts of some sort of contraption.  Now Tails regarded him with large eyes, stopping silently on the edge of this clearing and obviously waiting for a sign as to whether or not he could continue or if he should turn away now.  Knuckles did nothing but quirk a brow, which seemed to be enough.  Tails approached the bath.

Knuckles noted with satisfaction that Tails rounded that bath as he neared it, moving to the opposite side to where the pile of cloth and dirty dressings was.  He wouldn't have felt comfortable with Tails standing there.  Shifting about and crossing his arms on the side of the tub facing the young fox, Knuckles let his chest press against the wood as he waited for Tails to speak.

Tails offered up the bag before he opened his mouth, damp hands taking the wrapped goods out of his before he spoke.  "I figured that you'd be hungry," he said simply.

Peeling back the paper carefully, Knuckles smiled thinly at the bunch of grapes, apple and slice of bread he found inside.  "Thanks," he murmured, meeting the bright eyes as he spoke before wrapping the food back up again.  He'd eat it when he dried off.  A thought occurred to him, dry and sardonic, but he voiced it anyway.  "Did Amy send you?  All concerned about keeping my strength up and that?"

Tails shook his head slightly, Knuckles having to suppress a look of surprise as a result.  "No, I just figured that you hadn't eaten today and that you could do with something."

The Echidna raised a brow as he handed the parcel back to Tails, watching him place it in the grass as was obviously bid of him.  The moon began to sneak behind a cloud, casting cold odd shadows over his fur.  "Does anyone know you're here?"

"Sonic does," he replied whilst straightening, placing his hands on his hips and taking in his surroundings absently before looking back to Knuckles.  "He told me how to find you here.  It's a pretty cool place."

Knuckles took a moment to look about himself for a moment as well, seemingly taking it in again.   The clearing didn't extend much wider than the edges of the bath, but there was enough bare ground to make it impossible for the tops of the trees to meet, letting in the light from the moon and giving a good view of the stars.  The downside was that it let in the rain undisrupted as well, but that wasn't something that bothered him.

"Yeah, it's a nice place to unwind, get a few hours to myself."

Immediately Tails took a half-step back, his hands dropping from his hips to his sides slack.  "If I'm disturbing you I'll-"

"You're not disturbing me," Knuckles broke in quickly, raising a hand to halt Tail's hurried words.  "You aren't prodding me where I don't want to be prodded, so you're not disturbing me.  I'm nearly done anyway."

A bit more assured by those words, Tail's brought his retreating foot back to where it had been before.  A minute of silence passed between them, each following their own thoughts before Tails found enough courage to voice his.  "Can I ask you a question?"

"You can ask.  I won't guarantee an answer though, or an answer you'll like," Knuckles replied flatly.  He wouldn't pussyfoot around that.  Tails knew what had been going on recently and obviously anything that he asked now was going to be related to it.  Knuckles was still smarting, literally and figuratively, over the whole ordeal, meaning that his answers were going to be blunt and raw enough to warrant a warning beforehand.  If he chose to answer that was.

A bit taken aback by that answer but composing himself quickly, Tails rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck.  "Why'd you do it?"

He hadn't expected that sort of bluntness from the substantially younger fox, but he respected him for it.  His answer was simple and almost automatic, although he did wait a few moments to answer it so that it would at least seem that he had pondered it.  "This just isn't a good time or place to raise a kid.  Too dangerous."

Tails frowned.  He could probably sense on some level that that was a hollow answer, but he couldn't pinpoint the feeling enough to actually realize that.  A problem that came with youth and left with experience.  He settled for what words worked in the end.  "I don't think I like that."

Knuckles knew what he was getting at even if he didn't totally identify with it.  "Yeah well, life's a bitch.  I did say I couldn't promise you an answer you'd like."

A softly cracking twig signalled a new presence in the clearing.  This one had covered its presence until the last moment, now on the border of the trees and still lurking in the shadows.  "Tails?"  It was Sonic, Knuckles noted with a certain degree of surprise.  He didn't move to face the hedgehog though, keeping his back to where the voice had come from.

"Come on kid, it's late and Amy's worrying about ya."

Tails offered Knuckles a small smile that the Echidna returned before scurrying over to Sonic.  There was some murmuring between them and then the fox left completely.  Knuckles didn't move to face Sonic though.  He was quite certain that the hedgehog had only come here to retrieve Tails at Amy's insistence and would be turning around and leaving any moment now.

Truth be told, that was precisely what Sonic had intended to do right up until he set eyes on Knuckle's back in the water.  There had been an odd feeling in his gut then and, although awkward, he felt that he should stay.  He'd been there, been the one to help Knuckles and been the one to carry him bleeding back to the Knothole.  He was probably the only one that the Echidna would possibly talk to about it, and he felt some resentment about that. 

Sonic didn't want to have to think about this, about having left a thing that was going to be a child to die in the woods just because Knuckles didn't want it.  It was unfair in his eyes.  He fought for freedom but more than that he fought for life.  Knuckles destroyed one for the sake of convenience and that didn't sit well with him, hadn't done since he'd allowed himself to be a co-conspirator.  He deeply regretted helping.

That was perhaps why he lingered now, approaching Knuckle's unmoving back and stopping at the edge of the bath, his hands planting themselves on its ledge and his left sneaker almost touching the pile of material the Echidna had left in the grass.  Knuckles didn't move.  The water barely rippled, and that was only from his breathing. 

"So why'd you really want to do it?  And not the crap that you gave Tails just now or what you said when you got me to help.  A real answer."  Sonic wasn't entirely sure why he was demanding this of Knuckles.  He knew that the best thing now was to leave him in peace, to bury the whole ordeal and just get on with life.  But it rubbed him wrong to the severest extent and he needed an answer that would keep the niggling guilt quiet at night when it worked to keep him awake.

Knuckles pivoted gracefully in the water, the tips of his dreadlocks spilling out and pulling away from him as he slowly stepped into the middle of the bath facing Sonic.  The water was murky and completely impenetrable in terms of sight, not that he had any modesty when it came to the hedgehog, even with his fur soaked and clinging fiercely to his skin.  He didn't feel particularly exposed in the overly salty water, which would make this conversation easier.

"I gave you my answer then.  I shouldn't have to repeat it for you," Knuckles replied roughly, crossing his arms out of force of habit. 

"Bull," Sonic snapped with his eyes narrowing, putting a frame at the edges of a glare filled with intensity.  "You prattled onto me about having choices then.  You didn't give me a reason other than cowardice."

Knuckles had always been slower to anger than Sonic.  He could still be as passionate, yes, but it manifested in other ways.  Right now Knuckles was seething, particularly at the 'cowardice' comment, but he refused to bite.  "Why are you so desperate to know?  It was my choice."

"And I helped you carry it out."  The bitterness in those words was very significant to Knuckles who had a knack for picking up on subtle intonation such as this.  "I helped you kill it, all but did it for you, and I want to know what reason you have that could justify me being a murderer."

They stared at each other for long moments, silence dragging out each second into something excruciating.  Sonic trembled from the intensity of his outburst and the anger the coursed through him now, and Knuckles carefully considered his words.  This was something he had not expected; he hadn't realized that the hedgehog felt so strongly, but given what he fought so valiantly for it should have at least occurred to him.  But he'd been too engrossed in his own problems at the time to consider what effects what he wanted done would have had on the young Freedom Fighter.  Not very good ones apparently, and it was more or less his fault.  Sonic deserved answers, and as a creature of honour and respect, the echidna saw little choice but to give them.

His tail twitched anxious and unseen in the water as he put his hands together, lowering his head to gather himself before finally speaking in smooth and level tones.  Sonic hadn't exactly entered this conversation with the best disposition, and so now it was up to him to keep this entire thing as calm as possible.  "Well for starters I didn't believe it was really mine."

A muscle in Sonic's jaw twitched slightly as his teeth clamped together even harder but he remained silent, seemingly forcing himself to hear Knuckles out.  The echidna hadn't seen this kind of restraint in him before and didn't hesitate to make the most of it.

"I got jabbed gathering information by a 'bot I'd never seen before and it started building something in me.  I thought I'd become dangerous, a walking bomb that would eventually put some sort of biomechanical hybrid right in the middle of this operation.  I couldn't risk that," Knuckles continued, his gaze steady and unwavering on Sonic's eyes, strengthening his point.

Sonic went to interrupt then but Knuckles held up a hand and continued before he could start.  The hedgehog had to listen to him before he ran off on a verbal tangent and caused even more upset.  "I didn't believe you when you said that the nanobots were gone, that the kid was completely organic.  I wouldn't.  But seeing it…"

Words escaped him as his throat suddenly became very tight.  Images flickered through his mind for a few dangerous seconds and Knuckles forced them out again.  It wouldn't do to brood over something that he couldn't change.  He thought he'd made the right decision at the time, and he could make his peace with that.  It was possibly one of the worst mistakes he'd made to date, but he'd live with it. 

He forced his gaze up from where it had drifted to the water to meet Sonic's once again.  The hedgehog didn't look like he was going to say anything and his own gaze had softened a little.  It obviously helped to know that Knuckles felt something similar about the child's death, that it hadn't been a completely heartless killing.

"It wasn't just that though."  This was the part that he was finding very difficult to say, even moreso than his previous words.  This was the part he hadn't even begun to come to peace with.  This was what hurt as much as the salt that dug into his flesh and seared to make it clean.  "I didn't get a say in the matter."

A flicker across Sonic's face, barely perceptible but speaking volumes to the echidna that was scrutinizing so intensely, showed that the hedgehog saw that as a very weak answer.  Unexpected.  Low.  With an internal sigh Knuckles conceded that he'd have to expand on it.

"I was attacked and ultimately left with a kid that I hadn't asked for, or even considered a possibility.  I was…" He gestured vaguely with one hand, seemingly hoping to pluck the word he wanted out of the air.  What occurred wasn't perfect but it was close enough.  "Violated?"

Sonic shifted at the word, disturbed by it on a very deep and basic level.  He hated that word, what it meant, what it was, that his friend could say it and it could apply.  Understanding was settling like a balm over the raw guilt though, dampening a bit of his anger and leaving him feeling cold and uncertain. 

This wasn't something he'd considered before, yet it was true.  There had been no rape per-say but there might as well have been.  There had been penetration, albeit with a thick needle through skin and muscle, physical and emotional abuse had followed and, for a brief and strange period, there had even been a child.  He could sympathise with Knuckle's reaction.  It didn't sit well with him though, and he couldn't help but look at Knuckles a little differently now.  He hadn't yet had time to know if it was in a better or a worse way, just differently.

"You still had me kill it though.  It didn't deserve that, no matter what happened to make it in the first place," Sonic chewed out, feeling like he was having to wrestle with the words to keep them even.  There was no rational need to lose it now aside from what he felt.  And Knuckles didn't have a lot of say in that.

The Echidna stood quite still for a few moments just watching Sonic, reading him in his own way before his mind came up with a somewhat outlandish idea.  It was certainly a bit of a jump but it would serve to break this potential tirade of smarting feelings.  Knuckles wasn't even sure why it had occurred to him but it seemed relevant.  It might explain a few things.

"That girl the other day, what happened to her?"  Knuckles was aware that Sonic would know who he was talking about, and he was also aware that he was being very aggressive right now, not in his tone but in his lack of tact.  It was required though.  Things needed to be said.

The hedgehog hadn't expected the sudden tangent, and had expected the subject of the girl even less.  He'd been the one to go for her, naturally; anything to get away from Knuckles and focus on something else for a few hours.  She'd been a pretty little thing.  A fox, looking very much like Tails except for the single tail and bigger eyes.  Just about came up to his hip.  Reached for him with short claws and cried for her mother.  Had sniffled and tugged at her flattened ears when he'd stuck her behind an oil barrel whilst he took care of security.  Didn't make a sound when the 'bot had found her.  Still had her eyes open when he came back.

"Dead," he finally replied, his eyes narrowed and downcast, silently damning Knuckles for bringing her up at all.  He didn't know but he must have guessed.  His friend had a nasty habit for being able to do that.  "I got her out alright, but I left her and when I came back she was dead."

Knuckles nodded slowly, solemnly, his arms still crossed and his hands locked against his sides.  Quite obviously he didn't like to hear of the death of innocents, even moreso when it was a child that had died.  A cold part of his mind murmured that it could have been worse, that from the sounds of it she'd died quite quickly and that she could have suffered instead.  He knew better than to say anything like that to Sonic right now though.  Logic wasn't always the best policy, even if it was meant to comfort.

"You blame yourself?" He spoke it as a question but it was most definitely a statement.  They both knew that, but they both also played along to it.

"Yeah.  I shouldn't have left her.  I played too safe for once when I should've just grabbed her and run like Hell."  Bitterness laced his voice.  It wasn't misplaced.  He was still berating himself.

Knuckles finally approached the side of the bath, the double barrier of wood the only thing separating them now as the Echidna rested his hands either side of Sonic's on the ledge.  "You handled the situation as best you could.  You weren't at fault.  You didn't get her killed intentionally," he stated quietly, secretly musing that such an event really had been the last thing that Sonic had needed.  No wonder he hadn't seen him until now.

Sonic's rebuttal held none of the same calm as Knuckle's had.  "But I killed yours intentionally," he almost growled, a hiss rattling as a rebuke to himself and the words heated against Knuckles for even having asked it of him in the first place.

Guilt was not something that Knuckles felt often and now it came and settled in his gut in waves.  Shrugging slightly, his mouth quirked a little and he replied without meeting Sonic's eyes.  "I would have found a way to do it myself in the end, which would probably have wound up getting me killed as well because I was starting to get desperate by the time you came to me."

"It went against everything I believe in."

"And yet you still did it."

Sonic's gloved fingers tightened around the ledge of the bath, the wood creaking in protest.  He was stronger than most people expected just from looking at him.  "I was helping a friend."

Knuckle's eyes would have lit up if able to do so at that.  There was hope yet.  "Yes, you were.  Sonic, our views on this whole abortion deal are different; under certain circumstances, I see it as acceptable, whereas you see every life as precious.  That's just something we're going to have to live with."

A quiet noise conceded to that.  It was a harsh truth and a large difference of opinion, but they'd get by with it.

"You helped me when I needed it and put aside a lot of your own feelings to do that, which speaks well of you."  A sort of facial shrug that looked a bit like a grimace distorted Knuckle's features for a second.  "To put it crudely, you did me a favour." 

A look that could freeze in its seriousness appeared at that and Sonic's words were clipped when he spoke, his hands receding from the ledge of the bath and away from Knuckles'.  "Then you owe me.  Big."

Knuckles nodded, resisting the urge to shift under the gaze prompted by his ill-chosen words.  "Of course," was all he could say to that, although he did mean it sincerely and most seriously.

Sonic moved as if to leave but hesitated, his eyes somewhere off to the side as he thought.  Finally one hand touched back on the ledge of the bath, just a way from Knuckle's left hand.  "One last question, and then we'll bury this for a few days." 

Knuckles noted that that was a sort of warning; much like the one he'd given Tails earlier.  He unconsciously braced himself for the question although his body remained lax in all appearances. 

"Do you regret getting rid of it now?"  Sonic didn't look at him as he asked but did so quite intently as he waited for an answer, wanting to see for himself if the answer was the truth.  To see if there was nothing else being hidden behind the Echidna's substantial emotional shields.

Sonic had developed something of a knack over their last few meetings of getting through his shields though, Knuckles mused internally.  Taking a breath he answered slowly and carefully, attempting to justify himself as he went along rather than jus letting Sonic pounce at the end of it. 

"With the information I had at the time, what I believed, I did the right thing.  I don't regret doing it in that sense.  After seeing it, I've thought about what it might have been like, what potential for a future there was, the good things as well as the trials and hardships.  I could regret losing it for that, but I can't change what happened so why bother?"

Not any happier than when he had first entered this clearing but certainly more satisfied now, Sonic acknowledged the answer but gave no reply.  There was nothing to be said for the moment, nothing that needed to be said.  A cricket or some other noisy insect chirped as a reminder that it was still very late into the night, or early now.  There wasn't a way of knowing right now.

"You'd better get back.  Amy'll be worried about you too; you know what she's like," Knuckles suggested, breaking the moment.  That was all Sonic needed to make him turn away finally, walking back into the woods with only one backwards glance as he reached the tree-line before he began to make his way back to the Knothole, his speed not as impressive as it could have been.

Knuckles watched him leave before the realisation of how cool the water had become hit his flesh almost afresh, his fur bristling instantly as a result.  Moving to one side, he put a hand under a specific section of the ledge and wrenched it up as hard as he could.  The section of wood, barely eight inches wide, jolted up a few inches above the rest of the ledge and water began to gush out of the hole at the base of the bath.  Knuckles felt the strong pull as the torrent rushed through his ankles and whipped his tail, threatening to drag him out through the new gap too.

He waited patiently until the tub was half empty, watching the dirty water spread out through the grass and gradually absorb into the ground.  He then slowly and methodically began to shift some of the salt that had failed to dissolve and now sat on the floor towards the drainage gap, his movements fluid and gently as he worked to prevent upsetting his sore flesh.  Once satisfied, he retrieved the towel from the dry ground on the opposite side and began dabbing off the moisture from his fur, keeping the material out of the water still lapping about his knees.

The last half hour or so had been uncomfortable to say the least, he mused internally as he wrapped the towel about his waist and began wringing out his dreadlocks.  Painful to a degree, but it had needed doing. 

And it had certainly helped to clean up a few things.

Hopefully the real end this time. ;; Again, I hope you enjoyed this, and I'd appreciate any and all feedback on this.


End file.
